Comment by jacquesm
8 hours ago
I don't agree with that. They made the PC revolution possible by making hardware that was at least affordable enough to be bought by a large number of businesses and individuals. It also set the stage for the clone market. I'm pretty sure that if IBM really set their mind to it that they could do this.
That doesn't detract from your overall point that they tend to make overpriced stuff, but I don't think they have to do that. Besides, what's overpriced? NVidia's GB300 workstation sells for 95K euros, a single RTX 6000 is now 20K. Surely even IBM can compete at that level.
That was completely accidental and they themselves tried to close the barn door with the PS/2 line in 1987 but at that point it was too late.
True, even so: They still make some pretty impressive hardware. They have access to fab capacity, they know how to make chips. They have the capital. If they really wanted they could do it.
In what way is the IBM Spyre not what you're asking for?
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Respectfully, those people don't work at IBM anymore. The organizational memory doesn't last that long.
You'd think that with a 250K workforce and an active line of hardware including an AI accelerator that those people are still working there. I could be wrong, but someone has to be doing that work unless IBM in turn outsources it.
They haven’t been _that_ IBM for decades
I know. But: they have gobs of money, they still have some talent, they still have a hardware department that I'm pretty sure would jump at a chance to give NV a run for their money. This would require a massive long term investment and a commitment that I'm not sure they would have the stomach for.
"they have gobs of money, "
They do? They are a spec in the ocean relative to big players offering inference and training their own models. Pretty sure one thing they are struggling with is the money to compete successfully in the ai game this time around.
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It's the "PC-compatible" hardware make those affordable, not PC.
> They made the PC revolution possible
Yeah they were only half a decade late to the PC revolution back in the day...
They weren't really late. In many people's minds IBM validated the concept of the PC.
When that happened I'd been working at Tandy (EU version of Radio Shack) for a while and even though we sold computers they were not taken serious until IBM came along and then suddenly we couldn't supply them fast enough.
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